Employee Rights Blog

McDonald's To Pay 2% Of Claim Sought In Overtime PAGA Case McDonald's recently claimed victory in a Los Angeles Superior Court when the judge ordered the company to pay 2% of the $41 million amount workers were seeking in back pay and penalties. The case, Sanchez et al. v. McDonald's Restaurants ...

Overtime Pay  On May 15, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) rejected the City of San Gabriel, California's attempt to appeal a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling. This case started when the City of Gabriel questioned the expansive interpretation of what employers must inclu...

Overtime Pay & Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Activities California Court of Appeals Affirms Trial Court's Ruling in Batze v. Safeway, Inc.–a case about employee exempt vs. non-exempt activities. Background Gary Batze, et al., brought a lawsuit against their employer Safeway/Vons for failure to pay overti...

Employee Reimbursement On March 3, 2017, the Ninth Circuit upheld certification for a California class of O'Reilly Auto Enterprises, LLC store managers and assistant managers. The managers allege they weren't properly reimbursed for business expenses, saying the district court properly considered...

In the case of Vaquero v. Stoneledge Furniture, LLC, a California appellate court ruled on February, 28, 2017 that employees paid on a commission basis must be separately compensated for legally required rest periods. Background According to court records, the plaintiffs worked as sales associate...

Wage and Hour Case In Angeles v. US Airways, Inc., a California federal court concludes that the class issues did not predominate, and it decertified the class under Rule 23(b)(3).   Background 2012 – Joseph Timbang Angeles and Noe Lastimosa (Plaintiffs) brought a putative class action suit again...

It's been two weeks since the California Legislature adjourned, bringing the second half of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session to a close. A number of employment-related bills are awaiting Governor Jerry Brown's signature as the September 30th deadline to either veto or sign the bills quickly appr...

California's 2017-2018 legislative session ended with a significant number of new labor and employment laws enacted by both the legislature and Governor Brown. Two such laws effect employers and the processes and forms used to recruit new employees.  Below is a summary of two new laws for Califor...

Earlier this month, Oracle was sued by a former senior finance manager who claims she was terminated in retaliation for complaining about improper accounting practices in its cloud services business. In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the plaintiff Svetlana Blackb...

Sexual Orientation Discrimination – last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed two lawsuits charging employers with discriminating against employees based upon their sexual orientation. This is the first time the EEOC has filed two sex discrimination cases against private...

On September 28, 2105, in Sakkab, et al v. Luxottica Retail North America, Inc., the Ninth Circuit ruled that an employee cannot waive the right to bring a representative action under the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) through an arbitration agreement or any other means. Through it's ruli...

With the introduction of AB 588 and its intent to close so-called “loopholes”, it is important for employees and employers to realize the benefits of PAGA and how it prevents employers from committing labor code violations related to wages, rest periods, health and safety, and retaliation. What I...

Allegations Of Rest Break Violations Plaintiffs Jennifer Augustus, Emmanuel Davis, and Delores Hall, formerly security guards employed by defendant ABM Security Services, Inc. (ABM), allege on behalf of themselves and a class of similarly situated individuals that ABM failed to provide rest perio...

In California labor lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney approves settlement that was previously rejected just one month earlier.  The result–more than 3,000 class members are to receive an estimated sum of $1.6 million. Background Lead plaintiff Nikola Lovig worked for Sears Roebuck & C...

Workers at the Port of Los Angeles have filed a California labor lawsuit against a distribution company, California Cartage, and a staffing company, SSI Staffing.  The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in December, alleges the workers are owed millions of dollars in wages since t...

In an unusual and short opinion, the Ninth Circuit, in Urbino v. Orkin Services of California, Inc.remanded the plaintiff's PAGA representative action for alleged meal period, overtime, and vacation pay violations back to state court. No. 11–56944, 2013 WL 4055615 (9th Cir. Aug. 13, 2013). The pr...